Chapter II: Articles

An Article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification: as, _The_ air, _the_ stars; _an_ island, _a_ ship.

_An_ and _a_, being equivalent in meaning, are commonly reckoned _one and the same_ article. _An_ is used in preference to _a_, whenever the following word begins with a vowel sound; as, _An_ art, _an_ end, _an_ heir, _an_ inch, _an_ ounce, _an_ hour, _an_ urn. _A_ is used in preference to _an_, whenever the following word begins with a consonant sound; as, _A_ man, _a_ house, _a_ wonder, _a_ one, _a_ yew, _a_ use, _a_ ewer. Thus the consonant sounds of _w_ and _y_, even when expressed by other letters, require _a_ and not _an_ before them.

A common noun, when taken in its _widest sense_, usually admits no article: as, "A candid temper is proper for _man_; that is, for _all mankind_."--_Murray_.

In English, nouns without any article, or other definitive, are often used in a sense _indefinitely partitive_: as, "He took _bread_, and gave thanks."--_Acts_. That is, "_some bread_." "To buy _food_ are thy servants come."--_Genesis_. That is, "_some food_." "There are _fishes_ that have wings, and are not strangers to the airy region."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 322. That is, "_some fishes_."

"Words in which nothing but the _mere being_ of any thing is implied, are used without articles: as, 'This is not _beer_, but _water_;' 'This is not _brass_, but _steel_.'"--See _Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 5.

_An_ or _a_ before the genus, may refer to _a whole species_; and _the_ before the species, may denote that whole species emphatically: as, "_A certain bird_ is termed _the cuckoo_, from _the sound_ which it emits."--_Blair_.

But _an_ or _a_ is commonly used to denote individuals as _unknown_, or as not specially distinguished from others: as, "I see _an object_ pass by, which I never saw till now; and I say, 'There goes _a beggar_ with _a long beard_.'"--_Harris_.

And _the_ is commonly used to denote individuals as _known_, or as specially distinguished from others: as, "_The man_ departs, and returns a week after; and I say, 'There goes _the beggar_ with _the long beard_.'"--_Id._

The article _the_ is applied to nouns of cither number: as, "_The_ man, _the_ men;" "_The_ good boy, _the_ good boys."

_The_ is commonly required before adjectives that are used by ellipsis as nouns: as, "_The young_ are slaves to novelty; _the old_, to custom."--_Ld. Kames._

The article _an_ or _a_ implies _unity_, or _one_, and of course belongs to nouns of the singular number only; as, _A_ man,--_An_ old man,--_A_ good boy.

_An_ or _a_, like _one_, sometimes gives a collective meaning to an adjective of number, when the noun following is plural; as, _A few days,--A hundred men,--One hundred pounds sterling_.

Articles should be _inserted_ as often as the sense requires them; as, "Repeat the preterit and [_the_] perfect participle of the verb _to abide_."--Error in _Merchant's American School Grammar_, p. 66.

_Needless articles_ should be omitted; they seldom fail to pervert the sense: as, "_The_ Rhine, _the_ Danube, _the_ Tanais, _the_ Po, _the_ Wolga, _the_ Ganges, like many hundreds of similar _names_, rose not from any obscure jargon or irrational dialect."--Error in _Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. i, p. 327.

The articles can seldom be put _one for the other_, without gross impropriety; and of course either is to be preferred to the other, as it better suits the sense: as, "_The_ violation of this rule never fails to hurt and displease _a_ reader."--Error in _Blair's Lectures_, p. 107. Say, "_A_ violation of this rule never fails to displease _the_ reader."

CLASSES.

The articles are distinguished as the _definite_ and the _indefinite_.

I. The _definite article_ is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things; as, _The_ boy, _the_ oranges.

II. The _indefinite article_ is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one; as, _A_ boy, _an_ orange.

MODIFICATIONS.[133]

The English articles have no modifications, except that _an_ is shortened into _a_ before the sound of a consonant; as, "In _an_ epic poem, or _a_ poem upon _an_ elevated subject, _a_ writer ought to avoid raising _a_ simile on _a_ low image."--_Ld. Kames._

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--No other words are so often employed as the articles. And, by reason of the various and very frequent occasions on which these definitives are required, no words are oftener misapplied; none, oftener omitted or inserted erroneously. I shall therefore copiously illustrate both their _uses_ and their _abuses_; with the hope that every reader of this volume will think it worth his while to gain that knowledge which is requisite to the true use of these small but important words. Some parts of the explanation, however, must be deferred till we come to Syntax.

OBS. 2.--With the attempts of Tooke, Dalton, Webster, Cardell, Fowle, Wells,[134] Weld, Butler Frazee, Perley, Mulligan, Pinneo, S. S. Greene, and other writers, to _degrade_ the article from its ancient rank among the parts of speech, no judicious reader, duly acquainted with the subject, can, I think, be well pleased. An article is not properly an "_adjective_," as they would have it to be; but it is a word of a peculiar sort--a _customary index_ to the sense of nouns. It serves not merely to show the extent of signification, in which nouns are to be taken, but is often the principal, and sometimes the only mark, by which a word is known to have the sense and construction of a noun. There is just as much reason to deny and degrade the Greek or French article, (or that of any other language,) as the English; and, if those who are so zealous to reform our _the, an_, and _a_ into _adjectives_, cared at all to appear consistent in the view of Comparative or General Grammar, they would either set about a wider reformation or back out soon from the pettiness of this.

OBS. 3.--First let it be understood, that _an_ or _a_ is nearly equivalent in meaning to the numeral adjective _one_, but less emphatic; and that _the_ is nearly equivalent in meaning to the pronominal adjective _that_ or _those_, but less emphatic. On _some_ occasions, these adjectives may well be substituted for the articles; but _not generally_. If the articles were generally equivalent to adjectives, or even if they were generally _like_ them, they would _be_ adjectives; but, that adjectives may occasionally supply their places, is no argument at all for confounding the two parts of speech. Distinctions must be made, where differences exist; and, that _a, an_, and _the_, do differ considerably from the other words which they most resemble, is shown even by some who judge "the distinctive name of _article_ to be useless." See _Crombie's Treatise_, Chap. 2. The articles therefore must be distinguished, not only from adjectives, but from each other. For, though both are _articles_, each is an index _sui generis_; the one definite, the other indefinite. And as the words _that_ and _one_ cannot often be interchanged without a difference of meaning, so the definite article and the indefinite are seldom, if ever, interchangeable. To put one for the other, is therefore, in general, to put one _meaning_ for an other: "_A_ daughter of _a_ poor man"--"_The_ daughter of _the_ poor man"--"_A_ daughter of _the_ poor man"--and, "_The_ daughter of _a_ poor man," are four phrases which certainly have four different and distinct significations. This difference between the two articles may be further illustrated by the following example: "That Jesus was _a_ prophet sent from God, is one proposition; that Jesus was _the_ prophet, _the_ Messiah, is an other; and, though he certainly was both _a_ prophet and _the_ prophet, yet _the_ foundations of _the_ proof of these propositions are separate and distinct."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 105.

OBS. 4.--Common nouns are, for the most part, names of large classes of objects; and, though what really constitutes the species must always be found entire in every individual, the several objects thus arranged under one general name or idea, are in most instances susceptible of such a numerical distribution as gives rise to an other form of the noun, expressive of plurality; as, _horse, horses_. Proper nouns in their ordinary application, are, for the most part, names of particular individuals; and as there is no plurality to a particular idea, or to an individual person or thing as distinguished from all others, so there is in general none to this class of nouns; and no room for _further restriction by articles_. But we sometimes divert such nouns from their usual signification, and consequently employ them with articles or in the plural form; as, "I endeavoured to retain it nakedly in my mind, without regarding whether I had it from _an Aristotle_ or _a Zoilus, a Newton_ or _a Descartes_."--_Churchill's Gram._, Pref., p. 8. "It is not enough to have _Vitruviuses_, we must also have _Augustuses_ to employ them."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 61.

"_A Daniel_ come to judgment! yea, _a Daniel_!"
--SHAK. _Shylock_.

"Great Homer, in _th' Achilles_, whom he drew,
Sets not that one sole Person in our View."
--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 183.

OBS. 5.--The article _an_ or _a_ usually denotes one out of several or many; one of a sort of which there are more; any one of that name, no matter which. Hence its effect upon a particular name, or proper noun, is _directly the reverse_ of that which it has upon a common noun. It varies and fixes the meaning of both; but while it restricts that of the latter, it enlarges that of the former. It reduces the general idea of the common noun to any one individual of the class: as, "_A man_;" that is, "_One man_, or _any man_." On the contrary, it extends the particular idea of the proper noun, and makes the word significant of a class, by supposing others to whom it will apply: as, "_A Nero_;" that is, "_Any Nero_, or _any cruel tyrant_." Sometimes, however, this article before a proper name, seems to leave the idea still particular; but, if it really does so, the propriety of using it may be doubted: as, "No, not by _a John the Baptist_ risen from the dead."--_Henry's Expos., Mark_, vi. "It was not solely owing to the madness and depravity of _a Tiberius, a Caligula, a Nero_, or _a Caracalla_, that a cruel and sanguinary spirit, in their day, was so universal."--_M'Ilvaine's Evid._, p. 398.

OBS. 6.--With the definite article, the noun is applied, sometimes specifically, sometimes individually, but always _definitely_, always distinctively. This article is demonstrative. It marks either the particular individual, or the particular species,--or, (if the noun be plural,) some particular individuals of the species,--as being distinguished from all others. It sometimes refers to a thing as having been previously mentioned; sometimes presumes upon the hearer's familiarity with the thing; and sometimes indicates a limitation which is made by subsequent words connected with the noun. Such is the import of this article, that with it the singular number of the noun is often more comprehensive, and at the same time more specific, than the plural. Thus, if I say, "_The horse_ is a noble animal," without otherwise intimating that I speak of some particular horse, the sentence will be understood to embrace collectively _that species_ of animal; and I shall be thought to mean, "Horses are noble animals." But if I say, "_The horses_ are noble animals," I use an expression so much more limited, as to include only a few; it must mean some particular horses, which I distinguish from all the rest of the species. Such limitations should be made, whenever there is occasion for them; but needless restrictions displease the imagination, and ought to be avoided; because the mind naturally delights in terms as comprehensive as they may be, if also specific. Lindley Murray, though not uniform in his practice respecting this, seems to have thought it necessary to use the plural in many sentences in which I should decidedly prefer the singular; as, "That _the learners_ may have no doubts."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, Vol. i, p. 81. "The business will not be tedious to _the scholars_."--_Ib._, 81. "For the information of _the learners_."--_Ib._, 81. "It may afford instruction to _the learners_."--_Ib._, 110. "That this is the case, _the learners_ will perceive by the following examples."--_Ib._, 326. "Some knowledge of it appears to be indispensable to _the scholars_."--_Ib._, 335.

OBS. 7.--Proper names of a plural form and signification, are almost always preceded by the definite article; as, "_The Wesleys_,"--"_The twelve Cæsars_,"--"_All the Howards_." So the names of particular nations, tribes, and sects; as, _The Romans, the Jews, the Levites, the Stoics_. Likewise the plural names of mountains; as, _The Alps, the Apennines, the Pyrenees, the Andes_. Of plural names like these, and especially of such as designate tribes and sects, there is a very great number. Like other proper names, they must be distinguished from the ordinary words of the language, and accordingly they are always written with capitals; but they partake so largely of the nature of common nouns, that it seems doubtful to which class they most properly belong. Hence they not only admit, but require the article; while most other proper names are so definite in themselves, that the article, if put before them, would be needless, and therefore improper.

"_Nash, Rutledge, Jefferson_, in council great,
And _Jay_, and _Laurens_ oped the rolls of fate;
_The Livingstons_, fair freedoms generous band,
_The Lees, the Houstons_, fathers of the land."--_Barlow_.

OBS. 8.--In prose, the definite article is always used before names of rivers, unless the word _river_, be added; as, _The Delaware, the Hudson, the Connecticut_. But if the word _river_ be added, the article becomes needless; as, _Delaware river, Hudson river, Connecticut river_. Yet there seems to be no impropriety in using both; as, _The Delaware river, the Hudson river, the Connecticut river_. And if the common noun be placed before the proper name, the article is again necessary; as, _The river Delaware, the river Hudson, the river Connecticut_. In the first form of expression, however, the article has not usually been resolved by grammarians as relating to the proper name; but these examples, and others of a similar character, have been supposed elliptical: as, "_The_ [river] _Potomac_"--"_The_ [ship] _Constitution_,"--"_The_ [steamboat] _Fulton_." Upon this supposition, the words in the first and fourth forms are to be parsed alike; the article relating to the common noun, expressed or understood, and the proper noun being in apposition with the appellative. But in the second form, the apposition is reversed; and, in the third, the proper name appears to be taken adjectively. Without the article, some names of rivers could not be understood; as,

"No more _the Varus_ and _the Atax_ feel
The lordly burden of the Latian keel."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i. l. 722.

OBS. 9.--The definite article is often used by way of eminence, to distinguish some particular individual emphatically, or to apply to him some characteristic name or quality: as, "_The Stagirite_,"--that is, Aristotle; "_The Psalmist_," that is, David; "_Alexander the Great_,"--that is, (perhaps,) Alexander the Great _Monarch_, or Great _Hero_. So, sometimes, when the phrase relates to a collective body of men: as, "_The Honourable, the Legislature_,"--"_The Honourable, the Senate_;"--that is, "The Honourable _Body_, the Legislature," &c. A similar application of the article in the following sentences, makes a most beautiful and expressive form of compliment: "These are the sacred feelings of thy heart, O Lyttleton, _the friend_."--_Thomson_. "The pride of swains Palemon was, _the generous_ and _the rich_."--_Id._ In this last example, the noun _man_ is understood after "_generous_," and again after "_rich_;" for, the article being an index to the noun, I conceive it to be improper ever to construe two articles as having reference to one unrepeated word. Dr. Priestley says, "We sometimes _repeat the article_, when the epithet precedes the substantive; as He was met by _the_ worshipful _the_ magistrates."--_Gram._, p. 148. It is true, we occasionally meet with such fulsome phraseology as this; but the question is, how is it to be explained? I imagine that the word _personages_, or something equivalent, must be understood after _worshipful_, and that the Doctor ought to have inserted a comma there.

OBS. 10.--In Greek, there is no article corresponding to our _an_ or _a_, consequently _man_ and _a man_ are rendered alike; the word, [Greek: anthropos] may mean either. See, in the original, these texts: "There was _a man_ sent from God," (_John_, i, 6,) and, "What is _man_, that thou art mindful of him?"--_Heb._, ii, 6. So of other nouns. But the _definite_ article of that language, which is exactly equivalent to our _the_, is a declinable word, making no small figure in grammar. It is varied by numbers, genders, and cases; so that it assumes more than twenty different forms, and becomes susceptible of six and thirty different ways of _agreement_. But this article in English is perfectly simple, being entirely destitute of grammatical modifications, and consequently incapable of any form of grammatical agreement or disagreement--a circumstance of which many of our grammarians seem to be ignorant; since they prescribe a rule, wherein they say, it "_agrees_," "_may agree_," or "_must agree_," with its noun. Nor has the indefinite article any variation of form, except the change from _an_ to _a_, which has been made for the sake of brevity or euphony.

OBS. 11.--As _an_ or _a_ conveys the idea of unity, of course it applies to no other than nouns of the singular number. _An eagle_ is one eagle, and the plural word _eagles_ denotes more than one; but what could possibly be meant by "_ans eagles_," if such a phrase were invented? Harris very strangely says, "The Greeks have no article correspondent to _an_ or _a_, but _supply its place by a NEGATION of their article_. And even in English, _where_ the article _a_ cannot be used, as _in_ plurals, _its force is exprest by the same_ NEGATION."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 218. What a sample of grammar is this! Besides several minor faults, we have here a _nonentity_, a NEGATION _of the Greek article_, made to occupy a place in language, and to express _force!_ The force of what? Of a plural _an_ or _a,!_ of such a word as _ans_ or _aes!_ The error of the first of these sentences, Dr. Blair has copied entire into his eighth lecture.

OBS. 12.--The following rules of agreement, though found in many English grammars, are not only objectionable with respect to the sense intended, but so badly written as to be scarcely intelligible in any sense: 1. "The article _a_ or _an agrees_ with nouns _in_ the singular number _only, individually, or collectively_: as, A Christian, an infidel, a score, a thousand." 2. "The definite article _the_ may _agree_ with nouns _in the singular_ AND[135] _plural number_: as, The garden, the houses, the stars."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 170; 12mo, 139; _Fish's Murray_, 98; _a Teacher's_, 45. For the purpose of preventing any erroneous construction of the articles, these rules are utterly useless; and for the purpose of syntactical parsing, or the grammatical resolution of this part of speech, they are awkward and inconvenient. The syntax of the articles may be much better expressed in this manner: "_Articles relate to the nouns which they limit_," for, in English, the bearing of the articles upon other words is properly that of simple _relation_, or dependence, according to the sense, and not that of _agreement_, not a similarity of distinctive modifications.

OBS. 13.--Among all the works of earlier grammarians, I have never yet found a book which taught correctly the _application_ of the two forms of the indefinite article _an_ or _a_. Murray, contrary to Johnson and Webster, considers _a_ to be the original word, and _an_ the euphonic derivative. He says: "_A_ becomes _an_ before a vowel, and before a silent _h_. But if _the h be_ sounded, _the a only_ is to be used."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 31. To this he adds, in a marginal note, "_A instead of an_ is _now_ used before words beginning with _u_ long. It is used before _one. An_ must be used before _words_ WHERE _the h_ is not silent, if the accent is on the second syllable; as, _an heroic action, an historical account_."--_Ib._ This explanation, clumsy as it is, in the whole conception; broken, prolix, deficient, and inaccurate as it is, both in style and doctrine; has been copied and copied from grammar to grammar, as if no one could possibly better it. Besides several other faults, it contains a palpable misuse of the article itself: "_the h_" which is specified in the second and fifth sentences, is the "_silent h_" of the first sentence; and this inaccurate specification gives us the two obvious solecisms of supposing, "_if the [silent] h be sounded_," and of _locating "words WHERE the [silent] h is not silent!_" In the word _humour_, and its derivatives, the _h_ is silent, by all authority except Webster's; and yet these words require _a_ and not _an_ before them.

OBS. 14.--It is the _sound_ only, that governs the form of the article, and not the _letter_ itself; as, "Those which admit of the regular form, are marked with _an_ R."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 101. "_A_ heroic poem, written by Virgil."--_Webster's Dict._ "Every poem of the kind has no doubt _a_ historical groundwork."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 457. "A poet must be _a_ naturalist and _a_ historian."--_Coleridge's Introduction_, p. 111. Before _h_ in an unaccented syllable, either form of the article may be used without offence to the ear; and either may be made to appear preferable to the other, by merely aspirating the letter in a greater or less degree. But as the _h_, though ever so feebly aspirated has _something_ of a consonant sound, I incline to think the article in this case ought to conform to the general principle: as, "_A historical_ introduction has, generally, _a happy_ effect to rouse attention."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "He who would write heroic poems, should make his whole life _a heroic_ poem."--See _Life of Schiller_, p. 56. Within two lines of this quotation, the biographer speaks of "_an_ heroic multitude!" The suppression of the sound of _h_ being with Englishmen a very common fault in pronunciation, it is not desirable to increase the error, by using a form of the article which naturally leads to it. "How often do we hear _an air_ metamorphosed into _a hair_, a _hat_ into a _gnat_, and a _hero_ into _a Nero!_"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 205. Thus: "Neither of them had that bold and adventurous ambition which makes a conqueror _an hero._"--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 174.

OBS. 15.--Some later grammarians are still more faulty than Murray, in their rules for the application of _an_ or _a_. Thus Sanborn: "The vowels are _a, e, i, o_, and _u_. _An_ should be used before words beginning with _any of these letters_, or with a silent _h._"--_Analytical Gram._, p. 11. "_An_ is used before words beginning with _u_ long or with _h not silent_, when the accent is on the second syllable; as, _an united_ people, _an historical_ account, _an heroic_ action."--_Ib._, p. 85. "_A_ is used when the next word begins with a _consonant; an_, when it begins with a _vowel_ or silent _h_."--_lb._, p. 129. If these rules were believed and followed, they would greatly multiply errors.

OBS. 16.--Whether the word _a_ has been formed from _an_, or _an_ from _a_, is a disputed point--or rather, a point on which our grammarians dogmatize differently. This, if it be worth the search, must be settled by consulting some genuine writings of the twelfth century. In the pure Saxon of an earlier date, the words _seldom occur_; and in that ancient dialect _an_, I believe, is used only as a declinable numerical adjective, and _a_ only as a preposition. In the thirteenth century, both forms were in common use, in the sense now given them, as may be seen in the writings of Robert of Gloucester; though some writers of a much later date--or, at any rate, _one_, the celebrated Gawin Douglas, a Scottish bishop, who died of the plague in London, in 1522--constantly wrote _ane_ for both _an_ and _a_: as,

"Be not ouer studyous to spy _ane_ mote in myn E,
That in gour awin _ane_ ferrye bot can not se."
--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 124.

"_Ane_ uthir mache to him was socht and sperit;
Bot thare was _nane_ of all the rout that sterit."
--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 160.

OBS. 17.--This, however, was a _Scotticism_; as is also the use of _ae_ for _a_: Gower and Chaucer used _an_ and _a_ as we now use them. The Rev. J. M. M'Culloch, in an English grammar published lately in Edinburgh, says, "_A_ and _an_ were originally _ae_ and _ane_, and were probably used at first simply to convey the idea of unity; as, _ae_ man, _ane_ ox."--_Manual of E. Gram._, p. 30. For this idea, and indeed for a great part of his book, he is indebted to Dr. Crombie; who says, "To signify unity, or one of a class, our forefathers employed _ae_ or _ane_; as, _ae_ man, _ane_ ox."--_Treatise on Etym. and Synt._, p. 53. These authors, like Webster, will have _a_ and _an_ to be _adjectives_. Dr. Johnson says, "_A_, an _article_ set before nouns of the singular number; as, _a_ man, _a_ tree. This article has no plural signification. Before a word beginning with a vowel, it is written _an_; as, _an_ ox, _an_ egg; of which _a_ is the contraction."--_Quarto Dict., w. A_.

OBS. 18.--Dr. Webster says, "_A_ is also an abbreviation of the Saxon _an_ or _ane, one_, used before words beginning with an articulation; as, _a_ table, _instead_ of _an_ table, or one table. _This is a modern change_; for, in Saxon, _an_ was used before articulations as well as vowels; as, _an tid, a_ time, _an gear_, a year."--_Webster's Octavo Dict., w. A_. A modern change, indeed! By his own showing in other works, it was made long before the English language existed! He says, "_An_, therefore, is the original English adjective or ordinal number _one_; and was never written _a_ until after the Conquest."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 20; _Improved Gram._, 14. "_The Conquest_," means the Norman Conquest, in 1066; but English was not written till the thirteenth century. This author has long been idly contending, that _an_ or _a_ is not an _article_, but an _adjective_; and that it is not properly distinguished by the term "_indefinite_." Murray has answered him well enough, but he will not be convinced.[136] See _Murray's Gram._, pp. 34 and 35. If _a_ and _one_ were equal, we could not say, "_Such a one_,"--"_What a one_,"--"_Many a one_,"--"_This one thing_;" and surely these are all good English, though _a_ and _one_ here admit no interchange. Nay, _a_ is sometimes found before _one_ when the latter is used adjectively; as, "There is no record in Holy Writ of the institution of _a one_ all-controlling monarchy."--_Supremacy of the Pope Disproved_, p. 9. "If not to _a one_ Sole Arbiter."--_Ib._, p. 19.

OBS. 19.--_An_ is sometimes a _conjunction_, signifying _if_; as, "Nay, _an_ thou'lt mouthe, I'll rant as well as thou."--_Shak._ "_An_ I have not ballads made on you all, and sung to fifty tunes, may a cup of sack be my poison."--_Id., Falstaff_. "But, _an_ it were to do again, I should write again."--_Lord Byron's Letters_. "But _an_ it be a long part, I can't remember it."--SHAKSPEARE: _Burgh's Speaker_, p. 136.

OBS. 20.--In the New Testament, we meet with several such expressions as the following: "And his disciples were _an hungred_."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Matt_, xii, 1. "When he was _an hungred._"--_Ib._ xii, 3. "When he had need and was _an hungered._"--_Ib. Mark_, ii, 25. Alger, the improver of Murray's Grammar, and editor of the Pronouncing Bible, taking this _an_ to be the indefinite article, and perceiving that the _h_ is sounded in _hungered_, changed the particle to _a_ in all these passages; as, "And his disciples were _a hungered_." But what sense he thought he had made of the sacred record, I know not. The Greek text, rendered word for word, is simply this: "_And his disciples hungered_." And that the sentences above, taken either way, are _not good English_, must be obvious to every intelligent reader. _An_, as I apprehend, is here a mere _prefix_, which has somehow been mistaken in form, and erroneously disjoined from the following word. If so, the correction ought to be made after the fashion of the following passage from Bishop M'Ilvaine: "On a certain occasion, our Saviour was followed by five thousand men, into a desert place, where they were _enhungered_."--_Lectures on Christianity_, p. 210.

OBS. 21.--The word _a_, when it does not denote one thing of a kind, is not an article, but a genuine _preposition_; being probably the same as the French à, signifying _to, at, on, in_, or _of_: as, "Who hath it? He that died _a_ Wednesday."--_Shak_. That is, _on_ Wednesday. So sometimes before plurals; as, "He carves _a_ Sundays."--_Swift_. That is, _on_ Sundays. "He is let out _a_ nights."--_Id._ That is, _on_ nights--like the following example: "A pack of rascals that walk the streets _on_ nights."--_Id._ "He will knap the spears _a_ pieces with his teeth."--_More's Antid._ That is, _in_ pieces, or _to_ pieces. So in the compound word _now-a-days_, where it means _on_; and in the proper names, Thomas _à_ Becket, Thomas _à_ Kempis, Anthony _à_ Wood, where it means _at_ or _of_.

"Bot certainly the daisit blude _now on dayis_
Waxis dolf and dull throw myne unwieldy age."--_Douglas._

OBS. 22.--As a preposition, _a_ has now most generally become a _prefix_, or what the grammarians call an inseparable preposition; as in _abed_, in bed; _aboard_, on board; _abroad_, at large; _afire_, on fire; _afore_, in front; _afoul_, in contact; _aloft_, on high; _aloud_, with loudness; _amain_, at main strength; _amidst_, in the midst; _akin_, of kin; _ajar_, unfastened; _ahead_, onward; _afield_, to the field; _alee_, to the leeward; _anew_, of new, with renewal. "_A-nights_, he was in the practice of sleeping, &c.; but _a-days_ he kept looking on the barren ocean, shedding tears."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 162. Compounds of this kind, in most instances, follow verbs, and are consequently reckoned adverbs; as, _To go astray,--To turn aside,--To soar aloft,--To fall asleep_. But sometimes the antecedent term is a noun or a pronoun, and then they are as clearly adjectives; as, "Imagination is like to work better upon sleeping men, than _men awake_."--_Lord Bacon._ "_Man alive_, did you ever make a _hornet afraid_, or catch a _weasel asleep?_" And sometimes the compound governs a noun or a pronoun after it, and then it is a preposition; as, "A bridge is laid _across_ a river."--_Webster's Dict._, "To break his bridge _athwart_ the Hellespont."--_Bacon's Essays._

"Where Ufens glides _along_ the lowly lands,
Or the black water of Pomptina stands."--_Dryden._

OBS. 23.--In several phrases, not yet to be accounted obsolete, this old preposition _à_ still retains its place as a separate word; and none have been more perplexing to superficial grammarians, than those which are formed by using it before participles in _ing_; in which instances, the participles are in fact governed by it: for nothing is more common in our language, than for participles of this form to be governed by prepositions. For example, "You have set the cask _a_ leaking," and, "You have set the cask _to_ leaking," are exactly equivalent, both in meaning and construction. "Forty and six years was this temple _in_ building."--_John, ii, 20._ _Building_ is not here a noun, but a participle; and _in_ is here better than _a_, only because the phrase, _a building_, might be taken for an article and a noun, meaning _an edifice_.[137] Yet, in almost all cases, other prepositions are, I think, to be preferred to _à_, if others equivalent to it can be found. Examples: "Lastly, they go about to apologize for the long time their book hath been _a coming_ out:" i.e., _in_ coming out.--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 179. "And, for want of reason, he falls _a railing_::" i.e., _to_ railing.--_Ib._, iii, 357. "That the soul should be this moment busy _a thinking_:" i.e., _at_ or _in_ thinking.--_Locke's Essay_, p. 78. "Which, once set _a going_, continue in the same steps:" i.e., _to_ going.--_Ib._, p. 284. "Those who contend for four per cent, have set men's mouths _a watering_ for money:" i.e., _to_ watering.--LOCKE: _in Johnson's Dict._ "An other falls _a ringing_ a Pescennius Niger:" i.e., _to_ ringing.--ADDISON: _ib._ "At least to set others _a thinking_ upon the subject:" i.e., _to_ thinking.--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 300. "Every one that could reach it, cut off a piece, and fell _a eating_:" i.e., _to_ eating.--_Newspaper._ "To go _a mothering_,[138] is to visit parents on Midlent Sunday."--_Webster's Dict., w. Mothering._ "Which we may find when we come _a fishing_ here."--_Wotton._ "They go _a begging_ to a bankrupt's door."--_Dryden._ "_A hunting_ Chloë went."--_Prior._ "They burst out _a laughing_."--_M. Edgeworth._ In the last six sentences, _a_ seems more suitable than any other preposition would be: all it needs, is an accent to distinguish it from the article; as, _à_.

OBS. 24.--Dr. Alexander Murray says, "To be _a_-seeking, is the relic of the Saxon to be _on_ or _an_ seeking. What are you a-seeking? is _different_ from, What are you seeking? It means more fully _the going on_ with the process."--_Hist. Europ. Lang_,, Vol. ii, p. 149. I disapprove of the hyphen in such terms as "_à_ seeking," because it converts the preposition and participle into I know not what; and it may be observed, in passing, that the want of it, in such as "_the going on_," leaves us a loose and questionable word, which, by the conversion of the participle into a noun, becomes a nondescript in grammar. I dissent also from Dr. Murray, concerning the use of the preposition or prefix _a_, in examples like that which he has here chosen. After a _neuter verb_, this particle is unnecessary to the sense, and, I think, injurious to the construction. Except in poetry, which is measured by syllables, it may be omitted without any substitute; as, "I am _a walking_."--_Johnson's Dict., w. A_. "He had one only daughter, and she lay _a_ dying."--_Luke_, viii, 42. "In the days of Noah, while the ark was _a_ preparing."--_1 Pet._, iii, 20. "Though his unattentive thoughts be elsewhere _a_ wandering."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 284. Say--"be wandering elsewhere;" and omit the _a_, in all such cases.

"And--when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is _a_ ripening--nips his root."--_Shak_.

OBS. 25.--"_A_ has a peculiar signification, denoting the proportion of one thing to an other. Thus we say, The landlord hath a hundred _a_ year; the ship's crew gained a thousand pounds _a_ man."--_Johnson's Dict._ "After the rate of twenty leagues _a_ day."--_Addison_. "And corn was at two sesterces _a_ bushel."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 82. Whether _a_ in this construction is the article or the preposition, seems to be questionable. Merchants are very much in the habit of supplying its place by the Latin preposition _per_, by; as, "Board, at $2 _per_ week."--_Preston's Book-Keeping_, p. 44. "Long lawn, at $12 _per_ piece."--_Dilworth's_, p. 63. "Cotton, at 2s. 6d. _per_ pound."--_Morrison's_, p. 75. "Exchange, at 12d. _per_ livre."--_Jackson's_, p. 73. It is to be observed that _an_, as well as _a_, is used in this manner; as, "The price is one dollar _an_ ounce." Hence, I think, we may infer, that this is not the old preposition _a_, but the article _an_ or _a_, used in the distributive sense of _each_ or _every_, and that the noun is governed by a preposition understood; as, "He demands a dollar _an_ hour;" i. e., a dollar _for each_ hour.--"He comes twice _a_ year:" i. e., twice _in every_ year.--"He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand _a_ month by courses:" (_1 Kings_, v, 14:) i. e., ten thousand, _monthly_; or, as our merchants say, "_per month_." Some grammarians have also remarked, that, "In mercantile accounts, we frequently see _a_ put for _to_, in a very odd sort of way; as, 'Six bales marked 1 _a_ 6.' The merchant means, 'marked _from_ 1 to 6.' This is taken to be a relic of the Norman French, which was once the law and mercantile language of England; for, in French, _a_, with an accent, signifies _to_ or _at_."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 73. Modern merchants, in stead of accenting the _a_, commonly turn the end of it back; as, @.

OBS. 26.--Sometimes a numeral word with the indefinite article--as _a few, a great many, a dozen, a hundred, a thousand_--denotes an aggregate of several or many taken collectively, and yet is followed by a plural noun, denoting the sort or species of which this particular aggregate is a part: as, "A few small fishes,"--"A great many mistakes,"--"A dozen bottles of wine,"--"A hundred lighted candles,"--"A thousand miles off." Respecting the proper manner of explaining these phrases, grammarians differ in opinion. That the article relates not to the plural noun, but to the numerical word only, is very evident; but whether, in these instances, the words _few, many, dozen, hundred_, and _thousand_, are to be called nouns or adjectives, is matter of dispute. Lowth, Murray, and many others, call them _adjectives_, and suppose a peculiarity of construction in the article;--like that of the singular adjectives _every_ and _one_ in the phrases, "_Every_ ten days,"--"_One_ seven times more."--_Dan._, iii, 19. Churchill and others call them _nouns_, and suppose the plurals which follow, to be always in the objective case governed by _of_, understood: as, "A few [of] years,"--"A thousand [of] doors;"--like the phrases, "A _couple of_ fowls,"--"A _score of_ fat bullocks."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 279. Neither solution is free from difficulty. For example: "There are a great many adjectives."--_Dr. Adam_. Now, if _many_ is here a singular nominative, and the only subject of the verb, what shall we do with _are_? and if it is a plural adjective, what shall we do with _a_ and _great?_ Taken in either of these ways, the construction is anomalous. One can hardly think the word "_adjectives_" to be here in the objective case, because the supposed ellipsis of the word _of_ cannot be proved; and if _many_ is a noun, the two words are perhaps in apposition, in the nominative. If I say, "_A thousand men_ are on their way," the men _are the thousand_, and the thousand _is nothing but the men_; so that I see not why the relation of the terms may not be that of _apposition_. But if _authorities_ are to decide the question, doubtless we must yield it to those who suppose the whole numeral phrase to be taken _adjectively_; as, "Most young Christians have, in the course of _half a dozen_ years, time to read _a great many_ pages."--_Young Christian_, p. 6.

"For harbour at _a thousand doors_ they knock'd;
Not one of all _the thousand_ but was lock'd."--_Dryden_.

OBS. 27.--The numeral words considered above, seem to have been originally adjectives, and such may be their most proper construction now; but all of them are susceptible of being construed as nouns, even if they are not such in the examples which have been cited. _Dozen_, or _hundred_, or _thousand_, when taken abstractly, is unquestionably a noun; for we often speak of _dozens, hundreds_, and _thousands_. _Few_ and _many_ never assume the plural form, because they have naturally a plural signification; and _a few_ or _a great many_ is not a collection so definite that we can well conceive of _fews_ and _manies_; but both are sometimes construed substantively, though in modern English[139] it seems to be mostly by ellipsis of the noun. Example: "The praise of _the judicious few_ is an ample compensation for the neglect of _the illiterate many_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 278. Dr. Johnson says, the word _many_ is remarkable in Saxon for its frequent use. The following are some of the examples in which he calls it a substantive, or noun: "After him the rascal _many_ ran."--_Spenser_. "O thou fond _many_."--_Shakspeare_. "A care-craz'd mother of a _many_ children."--_Id._ "And for thy sake have I shed _many_ a tear."--_Id._ "The vulgar and the _many_ are fit only to be led or driven."--_South_. "He is liable to a great _many_ inconveniences every moment of his life."--_Tillotson_. "Seeing a great _many_ in rich gowns, he was amazed."--_Addison_.

"There parting from the king, the chiefs divide,
And wheeling east and west, before their _many_ ride."--_Dryden_.

OBS. 28.--"On the principle here laid down, we may account for a peculiar use of the article with the adjective _few_, and some other diminutives. In saying, 'A _few_ of his adherents remained with him;' we insinuate, that they constituted a number sufficiently important to be formed into an aggregate: while, if the article be omitted, as, '_Few_ of his adherents remained with him;' this implies, that he was nearly deserted, by representing them as individuals not worth reckoning up. A similar difference occurs between the phrases: 'He exhibited _a little_ regard for his character;' and 'He exhibited _little_ regard for his character.'"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 279. The word _little_, in its most proper construction, is an adjective, signifying _small_; as, "He was _little_ of stature."--_Luke_. "Is it not a _little_ one?"--_Genesis_. And in sentences like the following, it is also reckoned an adjective, though the article seems to relate to it, rather than to the subsequent noun; or perhaps it may be taken as relating to them both: "Yet _a little_ sleep, _a little_ slumber, _a little_ folding of the hands to sleep."--_Prov._, vi, 10; xxiv, 33. But by a common ellipsis, it is used as a noun, both with and without the article; as, "_A little_ that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many wicked."--_Psalms_, xxxvii, 16. "Better is _little_ with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith."--_Prov._, xv, 16. "He that despiseth little things, shall perish by _little_ and _little_."--_Ecclesiasticus_. It is also used adverbially, both alone and with the article _a_; as, "The poor sleep _little_."--_Otway_. "Though they are _a little_ astringent."--_Arbuthnot_. "When he had gone _a little_ farther thence."--_Mark_, i, 19. "Let us vary the phrase [in] _a very little_" [degree].--_Kames_, Vol. ii, p. 163.

OBS. 29.--"As it is the nature of the articles to limit the signification of a word, they are applicable only to words expressing ideas capable of being individualized, or conceived of as single things or acts; and nouns implying a general state, condition, or habit, must be used without the article. It is not vaguely therefore, but on fixed principles, that the article is omitted, or inserted, in such phrases as the following: 'in terror, in fear, in dread, in haste, in sickness, in pain, in trouble; in _a_ fright, in _a_ hurry, in _a_ consumption; _the_ pain of his wound was great; her son's dissipated life was _a_ great trouble to her."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 127.

OBS. 30.--Though _the, an_, and _a_, are the only articles in our language, they are far from being the only definitives. Hence, while some have objected to the peculiar distinction bestowed upon these little words, firmly insisting on throwing them in among the common mass of adjectives; others have taught, that the definitive adjectives--I know not how many--such as, _this, that, these, those, any, other, some, all, both, each, every, either, neither_--"are much more properly articles than any thing else."--_Hermes_, p. 234. But, in spite of this opinion, it has somehow happened, that these definitive adjectives have very generally, and very absurdly, acquired the name of _pronouns_. Hence, we find Booth, who certainly excelled most other grammarians in learning and acuteness, marvelling that the _articles_ "were ever separated from the class of _pronouns_." To all this I reply, that _the, an_, and _a_, are worthy to be distinguished as _the only articles_, because they are not only used with much greater _frequency_ than any other definitives, but are specially restricted to the limiting of the signification of nouns. Whereas the other definitives above mentioned are very often used to supply the place of their nouns; that is, to represent them understood. For, in general, it is only by ellipsis of the noun after it, and not as the representative of a noun going before, that any one of these words assumes the appearance of a pronoun. Hence, they are not pronouns, but adjectives. Nor are they "more properly articles than any thing else;" for, "if the essence of an article be to define and ascertain" the meaning of a noun, this very conception of the thing necessarily supposes the noun to be used with it.

OBS. 31.--The following example, or explanation, may show what is meant by definitives. Let the general term be _man_, the plural of which is _men: A man_--one unknown or indefinite; _The man_--one known or particular; _The men_--some particular ones; _Any man_--one indefinitely; _A certain man_--one definitely; _This man_--one near; _That man_--one distant; _These men_--several near; _Those men_--several distant; _Such a man_--one like some other; _Such men_--some like others; _Many a man_--a multitude taken singly; _Many men_--an indefinite multitude taken plurally; _A thousand men_--a definite multitude; _Every man_--all or each without exception; _Each man_--both or all taken separately; _Some man_--one, as opposed to none; _Some men_--an indefinite number or part; _All men_--the whole taken plurally; _No men_--none of the sex; _No man_--never one of the race.

EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.

PRAXIS II--ETYMOLOGICAL.

_In the Second Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and to explain the_ ARTICLES _as definite or indefinite.

The definitions to be given in the Second Praxis, are two for an article, and one for a noun, an adjective, a pronoun, a verb, a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:--

EXAMPLE PARSED.

"The task of a schoolmaster laboriously prompting and urging an indolent class, is worse than his who drives lazy horses along a sandy road."--_G. Brown_.

_The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things.

_Task_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned.

_Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun.

_A_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one.

_Schoolmaster_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned.

_Laboriously_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner.

_Prompting_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb.

_And_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected.

_Urging_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb.

_An_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one.

_Indolent_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality.

_Class_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned.

_Is_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_.

_Worse_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality.

_Than_ is a conjunction. 1, A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected.

_He_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun.

_Who_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun.

_Drives_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_.

_Lazy_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality.

_Horses_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned.

_Along_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun.

_A_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one.

_Sandy_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality.

_Road_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned.

LESSON I.--PARSING.

"The Honourable, the Corporation of the city, granted the use of the common council chamber, for holding the Convention; generously adding the privilege of occupying the rotunda, or the new court-room, if either would better suit the wishes of the committee."--_Journal of Literary Convention_, N. Y., 1830.

"When the whole is put for a part, or a part for the whole; the genus for a species, or a species for the genus; the singular number for the plural, or the plural for the singular; and, in general, when any thing less, or any thing more, is put for the precise object meant; the figure is called a Synecdoche."--See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 141.

"The truth is, a representative, as an individual, is on a footing with other people; but, as a representative of a State, he is invested with a share of the sovereign authority, and is so far a governor of the people."--See _Webster's Essays_, p. 50.

"Knowledge is the fruit of mental labour--the food and the feast of the mind. In the pursuit of knowledge, the greater the excellence of the subject of inquiry, the deeper ought to be the interest, the more ardent the investigation, and the dearer to the mind the acquisition of the truth."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 15.

"Canst thou, O partial Sleep! give thy repose
To the wet seaboy in an hour so rude?"--_Shakspeare_.

LESSON II.--PARSING.

"Every family has a master; (or a mistress--I beg the ladies' pardon;) a ship has a master; when a house is to be built, there is a master; when the highways are repairing, there is a master; every little school has a master: the continent is a great school; the boys are numerous, and full of roguish tricks; and there is no master. The boys in this great school play truant, and there is no person to chastise them."--See _Webster's Essays_, p. 128.

"A man who purposely rushes down a precipice and breaks his arm, has no right to say, that surgeons are an evil in society. A legislature may unjustly limit the surgeon's fee; but the broken arm must be healed, and a surgeon is the only man to restore it."--See _ib._, p. 135.

"But what new sympathies sprung up immediately where the gospel prevailed! It was made the duty of the whole Christian community to provide for the stranger, the poor, the sick, the aged, the widow, and the orphan."--_M'Ilvaine's Evi._, p. 408.

"In the English language, the same word is often employed both as a noun and as a verb; and sometimes as an adjective, and even as an adverb and a preposition also. Of this, _round_ is an example."--See _Churchill's Gram._, p. 24.

"The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket, arose from the well."--_Woodworth_.

LESSON III.--PARSING.

"Most of the objects in a natural landscape are beautiful, and some of them are grand: a flowing river, a spreading oak, a round hill, an extended plain, are delightful; and even a rugged rock, and a barren heath, though in themselves disagreeable, contribute by contrast to the beauty of the whole."--See _Kames's El. of Crit._, i, 185.

"An animal body is still more admirable, in the disposition of its several parts, and in their order and symmetry: there is not a bone, a muscle, a blood-vessel, a nerve, that hath not one corresponding to it on the opposite side; and the same order is carried through the most minute parts."--See _ib._, i, 271. "The constituent parts of a plant, the roots, the stem, the branches, the leaves, the fruit, are really different systems, united by a mutual dependence on each other."--_Ib._, i, 272.

"With respect to the form of this ornament, I observe, that a circle is a more agreeable figure than a square, a globe than a cube, and a cylinder than a parallelopipedon. A column is a more agreeable figure than a pilaster; and, for that reason, it ought to be preferred, all other circumstances being equal. An other reason concurs, that a column connected with a wall, which is a plain surface, makes a greater variety than a pilaster."--See _ib._, ii, 352.

"But ah! what myriads claim the bended knee!
Go, count the busy drops that swell the sea."--_Rogers_.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

ERRORS RESPECTING ARTICLES.

LESSON I.--ADAPT THE ARTICLES.

"Honour is an useful distinction in life."--_Milnes's Greek Grammar_, p. vii.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _an_ is used before _useful_, which begins with the sound of _yu_. But, according to a principle expressed on page 225th, "_A_ is to be used whenever the following word begins with a consonant sound." Therefore, _an_ should here be changed to _a_; thus, "Honour is _a_ useful distinction in life."]

"No writer, therefore, ought to foment an humour of innovation."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 55. "Conjunctions require a situation between the things of which they form an union."--_Ib._, p. 83. "Nothing is more easy than to mistake an _u_ for an _a_."--_Tooke's Diversions_, i, 130. "From making so ill an use of our innocent expressions."--_Wm. Penn_. "To grant thee an heavenly and incorruptible crown of glory."--_Sewel's Hist., Ded._, p. iv. "It in no wise follows, that such an one was able to predict."--_Ib._, p. viii. "With an harmless patience they have borne most heavy oppressions,"--_Ib._, p. x. "My attendance was to make me an happier man."--_Spect._, No. 480. "On the wonderful nature of an human mind."--_Ib._, 554. "I have got an hussy of a maid, who is most craftily given to this."--_Ib._, No. 534. "Argus is said to have had an hundred eyes, some of which were always awake."--_Classic Stories_, p. 148. "Centiped, an hundred feet; centennial, consisting of a hundred years."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 19. "No good man, he thought, could be an heretic."--_Gilpin's Lives_, p. 72. "As, a Christian, an infidel, an heathen."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 50. "Of two or more words, usually joined by an hyphen."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 7. "We may consider the whole space of an hundred years as time present."--BEATTIE: _Murray's Gram._, p. 69. "In guarding against such an use of meats and drinks."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 138. "Worship is an homage due from man to his Creator."--_Annual Monitor for_ 1836. "Then, an eulogium on the deceased was pronounced."--_Grimshaw's U. S._, p. 92. "But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."--_Gen._, ii, 20. "My days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth."--_Psalms_, cii, 3. "A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof"--_Exod._, xii, 45. "The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill, as the hill of Bashan."--_Psalms_, lxviii, 15. "But I do declare it to have been an holy offering, and such an one too as was to be once for all."--_Wm. Penn_. "An hope that does not make ashamed those that have it."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 15. "Where there is not an unity, we may exercise true charity."--_Ib._, i, 96. "Tell me, if in any of these such an union can be found?"--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 16.

"Such holy drops her tresses steeped,
Though 'twas an hero's eye that weeped."--_Sir W. Scott_.

LESSON II.--INSERT ARTICLES.

"This veil of flesh parts the visible and invisible world."--_Sherlock_.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ is omitted before _invisible_, where the sense requires it. But, according to a suggestion on page 225th, "Articles should be inserted as often as the sense requires them." Therefore, _the_ should be here supplied; thus, "This veil of flesh parts the visible and the invisible world."]

"The copulative and disjunctive conjunctions operate differently on the verb."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 286. "Every combination of a preposition and article with the noun."--_Ib._, i, 44. "_Either_ signifies, 'the one or the other;' _neither_ imports _not either_, that is, 'not one nor the other.'"--_Ib._, i, 56. "A noun of multitude may have a pronoun, or verb, agreeing with it, either of the singular or plural number."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 90. "Copulative conjunctions are, principally, and, as, both, because, for, if, that, then, since, &c."--See _ib._, 28. "The two real genders are the masculine and feminine."--_Ib._, 34. "In which a mute and liquid are represented by the same character, _th_."--_Music of Nature_, p. 481. "They said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee."--_Luke_, vii, 20. "They indeed remember the names of abundance of places."--_Spect._, No. 474. "Which created a great dispute between the young and old men."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 127. "Then shall be read the Apostles' or Nicene Creed."--_Com. Prayer_, p. 119. "The rules concerning the perfect tenses and supines of verbs are Lily's."--_King Henry's Gram._, p. iv. "It was read by the high and the low, the learned and illiterate."--_Johnson's Life of Swift_. "Most commonly, both the pronoun and verb are understood."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. viii. "To signify the thick and slender enunciation of tone."--_Knight, on the Greek Alph._, p. 9. "The difference between a palatial and guttural aspirate is very small."--_Ib._, p. 12. "Leaving it to waver between the figurative and literal sense."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 154. "Whatever verb will not admit of both an active and passive signification."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 31. "_The_ is often set before adverbs in the comparative or superlative degree."--_Ib._, p. 15; _Kirkham's Gram._, 66. "Lest any should fear the effect of such a change upon the present or succeeding age of writers."--_Fowle's Common School Gram._, p. 5. "In all these measures, the accents are to be placed on even syllables; and every line is, in general, more melodious, as this rule is more strictly observed."--_L. Murray's Octavo Gram_, p. 256; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 307. "How many numbers do nouns appear to have? Two, the singular and plural."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 8. "How many persons? Three persons--the first, second, and third."--_Ib._, p. 10. "How many cases? Three--the nominative, possessive and objective."--_Ib._, p. 12.

"Ah! what avails it me, the flocks to keep,
Who lost my heart while I preserv'd sheep."
POPE'S WORKS: _British Poets_, Vol. vi, p. 309: Lond., 1800.

LESSON III.--OMIT ARTICLES.

"The negroes are all the descendants of Africans."--_Morse's Geog_.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ before _descendants_, is useless to the construction, and injurious to the sense. But, according to a principle on page 225th, "Needless articles should be omitted; they seldom fail to pervert the sense." Therefore, _the_ should be here omitted; thus, "The negroes are all _descendants_ of Africans."]

"A Sybarite was applied as a term of reproach to a man of dissolute manners."--_Morse's Ancient Geog._, p. 4. "The original signification of knave was a boy."--_Webster's El. Spell._, p. 136. "The meaning of these will be explained, for the greater clearness and precision."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 58. "What Sort of a Noun is Man? A Noun Substantive common."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 166. "Is _what_ ever used as three kinds of a pronoun?"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 117. "They delighted in the having done it, as well as in the doing of it."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 344. "Both the parts of this rule are exemplified in the following sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 174. "He has taught them to hope for another and a better world."--_S. L. Knapp_. "It was itself only preparatory to a future, a better, and perfect revelation."--_Keith's Evid._, p. 23. "_Es_ then makes another and a distinct syllable."-- _Brightland's Gram._, p. 17. "The eternal clamours of a selfish and a factious people."--_Brown's Estimate_, i, 74. "To those whose taste in Elocution is but a little cultivated."--_Kirkham's Eloc._, p. 65. "They considered they had but a Sort of a Gourd to rejoice in."--_Bennet's Memorial_, p. 333. "Now there was but one only such a bough, in a spacious and shady grove."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 75. "Now the absurdity of this latter supposition will go a great way towards the making a man easy."--_Collier's Antoninus_ p. 131. "This is true of the mathematics, where the taste has but little to do."--_Todd's Student's Manual_, p. 331. "To stand prompter to a pausing, yet a ready comprehension."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 251. "Such an obedience as the yoked and the tortured negro is compelled to yield to the whip of the overseer."--_Chalmers's Serm._, p. 90. "For the gratification of a momentary and an unholy desire."--_Wayland's Mor. Sci._, p. 288. "The body is slenderly put together; the mind a rambling sort of a thing."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 26. "The only nominative to the verb, is, _the officer_."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 22. "And though in the general it ought to be admitted, &c."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 376. "Philosophical writing admits of a polished, a neat, and elegant style."--_Ib._, p. 367. "But notwithstanding this defect, Thomson is a strong and a beautiful describer."--_Ib._, p. 405. "So should he be sure to be ransomed, and a many poor men's lives saved."--SHAK.: _Hen._ v.

"Who felt the wrong, or fear'd it, took the alarm,
Appeal'd to Law, and Justice lent her arm."--_Pope_, p. 406.

LESSON IV.--CHANGE ARTICLES.

"To enable us to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word."--_Bucke's Gr._, p, 52.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ is used to limit the meaning of "repetition," or "too frequent repetition," where _a_ would better suit the sense. But, according to a principle on page 225th, "The articles can seldom be put one for the other, without gross impropriety; and either is of course to be preferred to the other, as it better suits the sense." Therefore, "_the_" should be _a_, which, in this instance, ought to be placed after the adjective; thus, "To enable us to avoid _too frequent a repetition_ of the same word."]

"The former is commonly acquired in the third part of the time."--_Burn's Gram._, p. xi. "Sometimes the adjective becomes a substantive, and has another adjective joined to it: as, 'The chief good.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, 169. "An articulate sound is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech."--_Ib._, i, 2; _Lowth's Gram._, 2; _T. Smith's_, 5. "Tense is the distinction of time: there are six tenses."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 6. "In this case, the ellipsis of the last article would be improper."--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, p. 218. "Contrast has always the effect to make each of the contrasted objects appear in the stronger light."--_Ib._, i, 349; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 167. "These remarks may serve to shew the great importance of the proper use of the article."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 12; _Murray's_, i, 171. "'Archbishop Tillotson,' says an author of the History of England, 'died in this year.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 107. "Pronouns are used instead of substantives, to prevent the too frequent repetition of them."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 22. "_That_, as a relative, seems to be introduced to save the too frequent repetition of _who_ and _which_."--_Ib._, p. 23. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word."--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, p. 28. "_That_ is often used as a relative, to prevent the too frequent repetition of _who_ and _which_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 109; _L. Murray's_, i, 53; _Hiley's_, 84. "His knees smote one against an other."--_Logan's Sermons_. "They stand now on one foot, then on another."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 259. "The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another."--_Gen._, xxxi, 49. "Some have enumerated ten [parts of speech], making a participle a distinct part."--_L. Murray's Gram_, i, p. 29. "Nemesis rides upon an Hart, because a Hart was a most lively Creature."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 50. "The transition of the voice from one vowel of the diphthong to another."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 29. "So difficult it is to separate these two things from one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 92. "Without the material breach of any rule."--_Ib._, p. 101. "The great source of a loose style, in opposition to precision, is the injudicious use of those words termed synonymous."--_Ib._, p. 97. "The great source of a loose style, in opposition to precision, is the injudicious use of the words termed _synonymous_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 302. "Sometimes one article is improperly used for another."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 197.

"Satire of sense, alas! can Sporus feel?
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?"--_Pope_, p. 396.

LESSON V.--MIXED EXAMPLES.

"He hath no delight in the strength of an horse."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 311. "The head of it would be an universal monarch."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 98. "Here they confound the material and formal object of faith."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 57. "The Irish and Scotish Celtic are one language; the Welsh, Cornish, and Armorican, are another."--_Dr. Murray's Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 316. "In an uniform and perspicuous manner."--_Ib._, i, 49. "SCRIPTURE, _n._ Appropriately, and by way of distinction, the books of the Old and New Testament; the Bible."--_Webster's Dict._ "In two separate volumes, entitled the Old and the New Testaments."--_Wayland's Mor. Sci._, p. 139. "The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a revelation."--_Ib._ "Q has ever an u after it; which is not sounded in words derived from the French."--_Wilson's Essay_, p. 32. "What should we say of such an one? That he is regenerate? No."--_Hopkins's Prim. Ch._, p. 22. "Some grammarians subdivide vowels into the simple and the compound."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 8. "Emphasis has been further distinguished into the weaker and stronger emphasis."--_Ib._, i, 244. "Emphasis has also been divided into superior and the inferior emphasis."--_Ib._, i, 245, "Pronouns must agree with their antecedents, or nouns which they represent, in gender, number, and person."--_Merchant's Gram._, pp. 86, 111, and 130. "The adverb _where_, is often improperly used, for the relative pronoun and preposition."--_Ib._, 94. "The termination _ish_ imports diminution, or lessening the quality."--_Ib._, 79. "In this train all their verses proceed: the one half of the line always answering to the other."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 384. "To an height of prosperity and glory, unknown to any former age."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 352. "HWILC, who, which, such as, such an one, is declined as follows."--_Gwilt's Saxon Gram._, p. 15. "When a vowel precedes _y_, an _s_ only is required to form a plural."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 40. "He is asked what sort of a word each is, whether a primitive, derivative, or compound."--_British Gram._, p. vii. "It is obvious, that neither the 2d, 3d, nor 4th chapter of Matthew is the first; consequently, there are not _four first_ chapters."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 306. "Some thought, which a writer wants art to introduce in its proper place."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 109. "Groves and meadows are most pleasing in the spring."--_Ib._, p. 207. "The conflict between the carnal and spiritual mind, is often long."--_Gurney's Port. Ev._, p. 146. "A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful."--_Burke's Title-page_.

"Silence, my muse! make not these jewels cheap,
Exposing to the world too large an heap."--_Waller_, p. 113.